Discussion: Systemic Housing Decay in USA
In a previous post, I asked readers about their thoughts on the reasons behind rapid rise of homelessness in this country. In another one, I asked about your thoughts on the rapidly declining living standards in western countries such as UK. Of course, in this area USA, once again, leads all other western countries. And this brings me to the topic of this discussion- namely, the slow motion, but accelerating, decay of housing stock in USA. Have you noticed that lots of residential and commercial buildings in in once prosperous cities and towns are being abandoned and starting to decay. While some might say this is a old phenomena which has been occurring in the Midwest since the 1980s, I have noticed that it is becoming far more widespread all over the country-including in areas which one would not have expected.
Why do so many non-rich neighborhoods in supposedly “nice” cities give off the vibes of systemic decay and shattered dreams. To be clear, I am not talking about areas with homeless encampments and open air drug markets. This is about once “nice” areas which used to have, and in many cases still have, a large working class population aka people who are not poor but also whose total household income is below 60-100k a year. Why do so many houses in these areas, even ones full of children , look so beaten down, melancholy and poorly maintained? I am not expecting every neighborhood to be full of freshly painted buildings with immaculate lawns and other idealized mental images of American suburbia. To better understand what I talking about, just have a look at vlogs of people who visit similar traditionally working class areas in other developed countries such as Japan, South Korea or even Italy or Spain.
Why do equivalent neighborhoods in many other developed countries, even those with a noticeably older population and lower income (as measured in USD) feel brighter, full of life and generally pleasant to live. In contrast, such neighborhoods in USA feel run-down, sketchy and tense, full of poorly maintained houses and lawns with curious artifacts. Why do they exude that air of hopelessness, resignation and decay , while their counterparts in other developed countries (even those with older and declining populations) don’t give off those vibes. What makes them feel so depressing? Were they always like that? If not, when did this transformation begin? Should reclarify that I am not talking about blocks of abandoned buildings which are also increasingly common in this country, but the ones which are still mostly occupied by people who have jobs that pay enough to afford a reliable used car or two. What are your theories?
What do you think? Comments?